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This is a necessary and urgent read for anyone concerned about the United States' endless wars. Investigating multiple genres of popular culture alongside contemporary U.S. foreign policy and political economy, Imperial Benevolence shows that American popular culture continuously suppresses awareness of U.S. imperialism while assuming American exceptionalism and innocence. This is despite the fact that it is rarely a product of the state. Expertly coordinated essays by prominent historians and media scholars address the ways that movies and television series such as Zero Dark Thirty, The Avengers, and even The Walking Dead, as well as video games such as Call of Duty: Black Ops, have largely presented the United States as a global force for good. Popular culture, with few exceptions, has depicted the U.S. as a reluctant hegemon fiercely defending human rights and protecting or expanding democracy from the barbarians determined to destroy it.

Popular culture --- Imperialism --- History --- United States --- Foreign relations --- american exceptionalism. --- american pop culture. --- call of duty. --- contemporary us foreign policy. --- defending human rights. --- endless war. --- expanding democracy. --- global force for good. --- innocence. --- media scholars. --- movies and television. --- political economy. --- popular culture. --- product of the state. --- prominent historians. --- the avengers. --- the walking dead. --- united stats. --- us imperialism. --- video games. --- wars. --- zero dark thirty.

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Still funny after two thousand years, the Roman playwright Plautus wrote around 200 B.C.E., a period when Rome was fighting neighbors on all fronts, including North Africa and the Near East. These three plays-originally written for a wartime audience of refugees, POWs, soldiers and veterans, exiles, immigrants, people newly enslaved in the wars, and citizens-tap into the mix of fear, loathing, and curiosity with which cultures, particularly Western and Eastern cultures, often view each other, always a productive source of comedy. These current, accessible, and accurate translations have replaced terms meaningful only to their original audience, such as references to Roman gods, with a hilarious, inspired sampling of American popular culture-from songs to movie stars to slang. Matching the original Latin line for line, this volume captures the full exuberance of Plautus's street language, bursting with puns, learned allusions, ethnic slurs, dirty jokes, and profanities, as it brings three rarely translated works-Weevil (Curculio), Iran Man (Persa), and Towelheads (Poenulus)-to a wide contemporary audience. Richlin's erudite introduction sets these plays within the context of the long history of East-West conflict and illuminates the role played by comedy and performance in imperialism and colonialism. She has also provided detailed and wide-ranging contextual introductions to the individual plays, as well as extensive notes, which, together with these superb and provocative translations, will bring Plautus alive for a new generation of readers and actors.

Colonies --- Imperialism --- Plautus, Titus Maccius --- East and West --- Rome --- Foreign relations --- Colonialism --- Empires --- Expansion (United States politics) --- Neocolonialism --- Political science --- Anti-imperialist movements --- Caesarism --- Chauvinism and jingoism --- Militarism --- Civilization, Western --- Civilization, Oriental --- Occident and Orient --- Orient and Occident --- West and East --- Eastern question --- Anti-colonialism --- Colonial affairs --- Non-self-governing territories --- Colonization --- Asian influences --- Oriental influences --- Western influences --- Plauto, Tito Maccio --- Plavt, Tit Makt︠s︡iĭ --- Plautus, M. Accius --- Plautus --- Plaute --- Plautus, M. Attius --- Plautus, Marcus Actius --- Plautus, Marcus Accius --- Plautus, Marcus Attius --- Plauto, Marco Accio --- Plautos, Titos Makkios --- פלאוטוס --- Rim --- Roman Empire --- Roman Republic (510-30 B.C.) --- Romi (Empire) --- Byzantine Empire --- Rome (Italy) --- american pop culture references. --- american references. --- ancient comedy. --- ancient rome. --- ancient theater. --- annotated. --- anthology. --- colonialism. --- comedy plays. --- contemporary audiences. --- contextual introductions. --- east west conflict. --- eastern culture. --- english translations. --- history of drama. --- imperialism. --- modern comedy. --- modernized translation. --- orientalism. --- plautus. --- plays. --- popular culture. --- role of comedy. --- roman playwright. --- rome at war. --- rome. --- street lingo. --- wartime audiences. --- western culture.